8 Ways Technology Can Improve Your Health
We forever see in the media how bad technology is for our health, but actually, there are many different ways technology has and is continuing to improve our health and is proving to be extremely beneficial in our day-to-day lives:
Improved Surgeries
Thanks to technology, there is far more accuracy when it comes to surgeries now and more operations that can be performed. From using VR technology in heart surgery to give a better view of inside the body to robotic surgery, where the surgeon has full control over a surgical robot and an enhanced view of the surgical site as well as more precise movement within tight spaces. The benefits of this kind of surgery include a shorter hospital stay, less blood loss, fewer complications, less need for narcotic pain medicine, faster recovery, and smaller incisions for minimal scarring.
Increased Awareness
The access we now have to information on our health has helped to raise awareness of our health and well-being. It’s so easy to find out how many calories are in what you’re eating, how much fat, how much sugar, etc., how much sleep you’ve had, and how many steps you’ve taken.
Motivation
Staying motivated is one of the hardest parts of living a healthy lifestyle, but technology means you can connect with other people who are going through the same struggles at the same time or people who have been where you are and have come out the other side.
Tracking
Today you can track just about everything, from fitness and nutrition, and to provide reminders of when to take medications. Your iPhone is always tracking how many steps you’ve made even if you didn’t ask it to.
Improving Communication
Digital communication has improved communication between doctors, nurses, and patients. It has made it easier for medical professionals to do their jobs better as they can easily access someone’s medical records to better prepare for diagnosis.
Increasing Preventative Healthcare
Technology has meant that medical conditions can be detected and predicted sooner rather than later. Doctors can collect a great deal of data, see significant trends, and can tell whether a person is at a higher risk of a particular disease. They can then prescribe the necessary steps to prevent the illness from taking over.
Increased Privacy
While you can look up anything online to do with your health, this isn’t always advised, as you could find false information and could end up overreacting to something that isn’t very serious. However, if you are suffering from personal problems, it can be helpful to know that you’re not alone. It is now also possible to send off for tests for chlamydia online, which is means that more people are willing to get tested as they don’t have to go to the clinic and be spotted by someone they know, there is increased privacy which is good news for our health.
Pain Management
Virtual technology can be used in ways you could never imagine; for example, victims of severe burns can use virtual technology to help them to manage pain. VR systems can help to distract people from pain signals.